How to properly prepare and read prayers at home. How to Pray for God to Hear Us

The power of prayer is proven and undeniable. However, it is important to know how to read prayers correctly so that they work.

What is prayer for a believer

Prayer is an integral part of any religion. Any prayer is a communication of a person with God. With the help of special words that come from the depths of our souls, we praise the Almighty, thank God, ask the Lord for help and blessings in earthly life for ourselves and our loved ones.

Proved that prayer words can greatly influence the mind of a person. The clergy say that prayer can change the life of a believer and his fate as a whole. But it is not necessary to use complex prayer appeals. You can pray in simple words. Often in this case, it is possible to put great energy into the prayer appeal, from which it becomes more powerful, which means that it will certainly be heard by the Heavenly forces.

It has been noticed that after prayer, the soul of a believer calms down. He begins to perceive the problems that have arisen differently and quickly finds a way to solve them. True faith, which is invested in prayer, gives hope for help from above.

Sincere prayer is able to fill spiritual emptiness and quench spiritual thirst. Prayer to Higher Powers becomes an indispensable assistant in difficult life situations when no one can help. A believer not only receives relief, but also strives to change the situation in better side. That is, we can say that prayer awakens inner strength to resist the prevailing circumstances.

What are the prayers

Most important prayers for a believer, thanks are considered. They glorify the greatness of the almighty Lord, as well as the mercy of God and all the Saints. This type of prayer should always be read before asking the Lord for any blessings in life. Any divine service in the church begins and ends with the glorification of the Lord and the chanting of his holiness. Such prayers are always obligatory during evening prayers, when gratitude is offered to God for the day lived.

In second place in terms of popularity are petitionary prayers. They are a way of expressing requests for help in any spiritual needs or bodily needs. The popularity of petitionary prayers is explained by the weakness of man. In many life situations, he is not able to cope with the problems that have arisen and he definitely needs help.



Pleading prayers not only ensure a prosperous life, but also bring them closer to the salvation of the soul. They necessarily contain a request for the forgiveness of known and unknown sins and the acceptance of repentance by the Lord for unseemly deeds. That is, with the help of such prayers, a person purifies the soul and fills it with sincere faith.

A sincere believer must be sure that his pleading prayer will be sure to be heard by the Lord. You need to understand that God knows about the misfortunes that befell the believer and his needs even without prayer. But at the same time, the Lord never takes any action, leaving the believer the right to choose. A true Christian must offer his petition by repenting of his sins. Only a prayer that includes words of repentance and a specific request for help will be heard by the Lord or other heavenly Heavenly Forces.

There are also separate penitential prayers. Their purpose is that with their help the believer frees the soul from sins. After such prayers, spiritual relief always comes, which is due to liberation from painful experiences about committed unrighteous deeds.

Prayer of repentance provides for sincere repentance of a person. It must come from the depths of the heart. In such cases, people often pray with tears in their eyes. Such a prayerful appeal to God can save the soul from the most grave sins that interfere with life. Prayers of repentance, purifying the soul of a person, allow him to move on life path, find peace of mind and acquire new mental strength for new achievements for good. Priests recommend using this type of prayer appeals as often as possible.

Prayers written in Old Church Slavonic, very difficult to read in the original. If this is done mechanically, then such appeals to God are unlikely to be effective. In order to convey a prayer to God, one must fully understand the meaning of the prayer text. Therefore, it is hardly worth bothering with reading prayers in the church language. You can simply listen to them by attending a service in the temple.

It is important to understand that any prayer will be heard only if it is conscious. If you decide to use the canonical prayer in the original, then you first need to familiarize yourself with its semantic translation into modern language or ask the priest to explain its meaning in accessible words.

If you constantly pray at home, be sure to organize a red corner for this. There you need to install icons and put church candles, which will need to be lit when praying. It is allowed to read prayers from a book, but it is much more effective to read them by heart. This will allow you to concentrate as much as possible and put stronger energy into prayer appeal. You shouldn't stress too much about this. If prayers become the rule, then it will not be difficult to remember them.

What actions accompany Orthodox prayer

Very often, believers have a question, what additional actions strengthen prayer. If you are in a church service, then the most best advice one that can be given is to closely monitor the actions of the priest and other worshipers.

If everyone around is kneeling or crossing themselves, then you need to do the same. Indicative for repetition are all the actions of priests, who always conduct services in accordance with church rules.

There are three types of church bows that are used when offering prayers:

• A simple bow of the head. It is never accompanied by the sign of the cross. It is used for words in prayers: “fall down”, “worship”, “grace of the Lord”, “God's blessing”, “peace to all”. In addition, you need to bow your head if the priest blesses not with the Cross, but with a hand or a candle. Also, such an action takes place when a priest passes with a censer in a circle of believers. It is imperative to bow your head while reading the Holy Gospel.
• Belt bow. In the process of this, you need to bend at the waist. Ideally, such a bow should be so low as to be able to touch the fingers to the floor. It is important to remember that before such a bow, it is imperative to overshadow yourself with the sign of the cross. A bow is used in words in prayers: “Lord, have mercy”, “Give me, Lord”, “Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”, “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us”, “Glory to You, Lord, Glory You". This action is obligatory before the beginning of the reading of the Gospel and at the end, before the beginning of the prayer "Symbol of Faith", in the process of reading akathists and canons. It is necessary to make a bow from the waist when the priest blesses with the Cross, the Icon or the Holy Gospel. Both in church and at home, you must first cross yourself, perform a bow from the waist, and only after that read the well-known and very important prayer for all Orthodox Christians, “Our Father”.
• Earth bow. It involves kneeling and touching the forehead to the ground. When such an action should be performed in a church service, the attention of the clergy is necessarily drawn to this. By praying at home, such an action can enhance the effect of any prayer appeal. Not recommended for prayers prostrations, in the period between Easter and Trinity, between Christmas and Epiphany, on the days of the twelve great church holidays, on Sunday.

You should know that in Orthodoxy it is not customary to pray on your knees. This is done only in exceptional cases. Very often believers do this before miraculous icon or a particularly revered church shrine. After bowing to the ground during ordinary prayer, it is imperative to rise and continue the prayer.

You should make the sign of the cross after simply bowing your head before starting to read any independent prayer. After its completion, you should also cross yourself.

How to read morning and evening prayers

morning and evening prayers read in order to strengthen faith in the soul. To do this, there are morning and evening rules that must be followed. After waking up and before going to bed, it is recommended to pray using the prayers below.

This prayer was conveyed to the apostles by Jesus Christ himself with the aim that they spread it throughout the world. It contains a strong petition for seven blessings that make the life of any believer full, filling it with spiritual shrines. In this prayer appeal, we express respect and love for the Lord, as well as faith in our own happy future.

This prayer can be used for reading in any life situation, but in the morning and before going to bed it is mandatory. It is always necessary to read a prayer with increased sincerity, this is precisely what distinguishes it from other prayer appeals.

The text of the prayer is as follows:

Prayer for an agreement at home

It is believed that the power of Orthodox prayers increases many times if several believers pray together. This fact is also confirmed from the energy point of view. The energy of people praying at the same time unites and enhances the effect of the prayer appeal. Prayer by agreement can be read at home with your household. It is considered the most popular and effective in cases when one of the close people fell ill and it is necessary to make common efforts for his recovery.

For such a prayer, you need to use any directed text. With it, you can turn not only to the Lord, but also to various Saints. The main thing is that the participants of the ceremony should be united by a single goal and the thoughts of all believers should be pure and sincere.

Prayers Detention

Especially for reading is the prayer to the icon "Detention". Its text is available in the collection of prayers of the elder Pansofius of Athos and it is necessary to pronounce it during prayer in the original. She is powerful weapon against evil spirits, therefore priests do not recommend using this prayer at home, without the blessing of a spiritual mentor. The thing is that the wishes and turns that it contains are close to Old Testament, and far from the traditional petitions of Orthodox believers. The prayer is read nine times a day for nine days. In this case, you can not miss a single day. In addition, there is a requirement that this prayer must be said in secret.

This prayer allows you to:

• Put reliable protection from demonic forces and human evil;
• Protect from household damage and the evil eye;
• Protect yourself from the actions of selfish and malicious people, including the meanness and cunning of enemies.

When the prayer to Saint Cyprian is read

Bright prayer to Saint Cyprian - effective method to avert all sorts of troubles from a believer. It is recommended to use it in cases where there is a suspicion of damage. It is allowed to speak water with this prayer, and then drink it.

The prayer text reads as follows:

“O holy saint of God, Hieromartyr Cyprian, you are the helper of all those who turn to you for help. Accept from us sinners praise to you for all your deeds earthly and heavenly. Beg for us from the Lord in our infirmities, strengthening, in severe illnesses, healing, in bitter sorrows, consolation, and ask him to grant us other earthly blessings.

Lift up Saint Cyprian, revered by all believers, your pious prayer to the Lord. May the Almighty protect me from all temptations and falls, teach me true repentance, and save me from the demonic influence of the influences of unkind people.

Be my real champion for all my enemies, visible and invisible, give me patience, and at the hour of my death, become my intercessor before the Lord God. And I will sing your holy name and pray to our Most High God. Amen".

How to turn to Nicholas the Wonderworker in prayer

Very often they turn with a variety of requests to Nicholas the Wonderworker. This Saint is often addressed when a black streak comes in life. The prayer appeal of a sincerely believing person will certainly be heard and fulfilled, since Saint Nicholas is considered the closest Saint to the Lord.

It is possible to express a specific request in prayers, but there is a universal prayer for the fulfillment of a desire.

It sounds like this:

“Oh Holy Wonderworker Nicholas, help me, the Servant (s) of God (s) (proper name) in my mortal desires. Help me to fulfill my cherished desire, and do not be angry at my bold request. Don't leave me alone with vain things. My desire is only for the good, not and not to the detriment of others, fulfill your mercy. And if I conceived something dashing according to your understanding, then avert the attack. If I want dashing, avert adversity. Make sure that all my righteous desires are fulfilled, and life is filled with happiness. May your will be done. Amen".

Only baptized people can read the Jesus Prayer. This prayer appeal is considered the first step in the formation of faith in the human soul. Its meaning is to ask for mercy from the Lord God through His Son. This prayer is a real daily amulet for a believer and can help overcome any difficulties. Also, the Jesus Prayer is an effective remedy against the evil eye and corruption.

In order for the prayer to be effective, the following recommendations should be followed:

• While pronouncing words, you need to focus on them as much as possible;
• One should not memorize a prayer mechanically, it should be memorized by fully understanding each word;
• It is necessary to pray in a calm and quiet place;
• If faith is very strong, then it is allowed to pray during vigorous activity;
• During prayer, all thoughts should be directed to true faith in the Lord. In the soul there must be love for God and admiration for the Almighty.

Prayer for a talisman - a red thread

A very common amulet is a red thread on the wrist. The history of this talisman is rooted in Kabbalah. In order for the red thread on the wrist to acquire protective properties, you must first read a special prayer above it.

A red thread for a talisman must be bought for money. It should be woolen and quite durable. A close relative or relative should tie it on the wrist and conduct the accompanying ritual. It is very good if the native mother will tie the thread. But in any case, you must be sure that the person who will perform the ceremony sincerely loves you.

For each knot tied, the following prayer is said:

“Lord Almighty, blessed is the Kingdom on Earth and in Heaven. I bow before your Power and Majesty and glorify You. You do many good deeds, heal the sick and support those in need, you show your true love, and only you have universal forgiveness. I ask you to save the Servant of God (the name of the person), protect him from troubles and protect him from visible and invisible enemies. Only you can do this on Earth and in Heaven. Amen".

Prayer is not a "tribute" to God, but a heart-to-heart conversation with him. Sincere faith can change a person's life, so everyone wants to address God correctly so that they can hear him. To do this, you need to know how to pray at home in front of the icon. There are a number of rules that are recommended to follow. The true canons can be clarified in the nearest church.

Basic rules for prayer at home

There are several basic rules:

• Prayer must come from the heart and must be devoid of selfish requests, such as: "I need a car."
• You can turn to God through the saints, asking them to "pray to God for us."
• It is better to trust your secrets and requests in silence in front of an icon or any image of God.
• If a person does not know where to start, it is better to take a prayer book and read the morning or evening prayer, you can start with “Our Father”.
• Not a single clergyman will forbid a person to turn to his thoughts in prayer and pronounce his own text of appeal to the Lord, it is possible and necessary to turn to God more often and under any conditions.
• During prayer, you do not need to be distracted by everyday thoughts and worldly affairs, it is important to tune your mind specifically to thoughts about God.
• In the pandemonium of people, you can say a prayer "to yourself."

It is important to remember that in a person’s conversation with the Lord, all conventions are canceled, since he already sees his children through and through and knows everything about them. Feedback from the Lord usually manifests itself in our lives by the appearance of new people who are ready to help or new trials that will be useful for healing the soul. Therefore, one should not expect instant miracles, only through repentance and work, human prayers will be heard.

At the beginning of a new day, it is worth saying thanks to the Lord for giving this day and asking to spend this day in spiritual peace, kindness and patience with loved ones. Before going to bed, you need to thank God for another day lived on earth, for the fact that everyone is healthy and alive, pray for yourself, loved ones and all of humanity.

Short daily prayers

For sincere prayer, you do not need to have the ability to read the Old Slavonic text, you can always turn to God with simple human thoughts and words. God cares about the heart of a person, and not the beauty of the text that he pronounces. Therefore, you can start with the utmost short prayers that a person can focus on.

Prayer is not always associated with a feeling of gratitude and appreciation to God, which we pronounce with a joyful feeling or with obvious relief; prayer is not always read in joy or to ask for God's mercy. Often there is a time when laziness, no desire, or the bustle of life does not allow finding time for prayer, at such times the strength of faith and desire to work for the Lord, to sacrifice one's deeds for him, is tested. Prayer does not take much time and you need to force yourself through force, in this case prayer is a human labor to which you need to make an effort.

Canonical prayers

In the Christian faith, there are many very strong prayers, selected by the elders for centuries and preserved on the pages of prayer books and church canons. Usually, such prayers are addressed to the Lord or the Virgin. It is believed that the words addressed in moments of despair to Mother of God will always be heard and not left unattended. Universal and strong prayer is "Our Father".

This text is easy to learn, many know "Our Father" by heart from an early age. You can pronounce these words in many life situations, receiving protection from God. This appeal has great power.

Priests recommend knowing the basic canonical prayers by heart so that you can repeat them to yourself in any situation. It is very important to read prayers with an understanding of each word, the general meaning. You cannot read a prayer as a duty without understanding what you are reading. morning prayer rule it is better to pronounce before the start of all affairs, and evening right before bedtime.

Prayer book for home

An Orthodox prayer book, as a rule, is a collection of basic prayers that are read at different times and on different occasions: about health, about repose, morning and evening rule, before communion, etc. Morning and evening rule, if you do not have time, it is not necessary to read everything. In this situation, quantity is not important, but quality is important. It is better to say a few prayers, but from the heart, carefully delving into each word and living it.

The right attitude to talk with the Lord is very important, prayer must come from within, from the heart, when the head is full of household chores, this becomes impossible.

• You can’t repeat a set of empty words in front of the icon and wait for the Lord to hear you and send down everything that you asked for after saying such a prayer.
• There is back side frequent prayers is the believer's getting used to the words, memorizing them by heart, pronunciation on the machine. When a prayer rule becomes habitual, a person stops thinking and trying, he pronounces the texts “automatically” and thinks about his affairs. In this case, you must always fight with yourself, return your mind to its place.
• Before you pray correctly at home in front of the icon, it is important to remember that the image is a help to the believer in his efforts, the visualization of the saints and the Lord before whom he appears.
• The main thing in prayer is the desire to appear before God, repent to him, transfer your life consciously into his hands and hope for your faith, if there is a desire, then everything will work out. There are different iconostases (Nicholas the Wonderworker, Matrona and others).
• More time for learning to pray should be given to focusing your thoughts and soul on this action. To pray correctly means to be overflowing with gratitude to God and filled with prayer.

Some people think - standing or sitting to talk with the Almighty. IN Orthodox churches people are worth serving. Therefore, at home, too, you can observe this tradition. It is permissible to speak the text aloud or to yourself. The main thing is that the words come from the heart and soul. Then the Almighty will surely hear them.

Good afternoon, our dear visitors!

What needs to be done so that the Lord hears our prayer? How do we know if what we ask God is important? What should our prayer be? What are the conditions for the success of our prayer? What is necessary for the success of our prayer? What should be our prayer?

Archpriest Alexander Lebedev answers these questions:

“In order for our prayer to be heard, its content must be important enough. After all, it is difficult to imagine God as some kind of errand boy, fulfilling all our whims, often contradictory. Therefore, what we ask must be something very important and necessary to us.

How do I know if what I'm asking is important? The question ceases to seem far-fetched if we remember how at different times in our lives we considered very different things important.

As a child, a person believes that the most important thing for him is to have a car, like a neighbor. Then it becomes important to get an A in math, then it becomes important for a certain person to pay attention to you, then career issues become important, then problems of family and human relationships, and so on.

So how do you figure out which is more important: a new toy or a family? Prayer will help in this, or rather, constancy in prayer. If a person asked God for something once, asked twice and backed down, it means that he doesn’t really need what he asks. But if a person prays relentlessly for a day, and two, and a year, and another, then something completely different becomes clear: what he asks is really necessary. So prayer must be constant and unrelenting.

Another condition for successful prayer is benefit. What we ask should be useful to us, and not as it seems to us, but in reality. Our desires are far from always directed towards what is useful to us, so their fulfillment can very often bring us danger. This is the answer to the previous question.

Of course, for the success of prayer, faith is needed (it should even be put in the first place), because prayer without faith is not prayer, but either an experiment (and suddenly it will work), or a spell in which all hope is not placed on God, but on the magical effect of uttered formulations. So, if we pray to God, then we need to be confident in His ability and desire to help us.

The next condition for the success of prayer is prompted by a sense of conscience. Before asking anything for ourselves from God, it is worth asking Him for forgiveness for those sins with which we offend Him. Indeed, if a person sees incessant dirty tricks from us all his life, then you can guess how he will react to the request of the one from whom he has suffered reproach all his life.

Therefore, it would be good to first reconcile with God - bring Him repentance, confess, sweep out of life everything that offends Him, and then ask for any blessings.

It is necessary to mention one more very significant case when our prayer will not be fulfilled: if it does not coincide with the will of God. We see an example of such an "unheard" prayer in the Gospel. This is the prayer of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Shortly before His crucifixion, foreseeing the approach of the torments of the Cross, Christ prayed to the Father until the bloody sweat that this Cup would pass from Him. But, as we know, He did not escape crucifixion. This is explained by the special providence of God the Father for His Son. And Christ knew about this Providence, therefore He completed His request with the words: “However, not as I want, but as You” (Matt. 26:39). So we must complete our every petition to God.”

Discussion: 4 comments

Hello. I have a question about the name. My name is Diana, but at baptism they called Daria, since my name is not in church names. This is where the question arises: when I say a prayer, with what name of God's servant should I address God? Diana or Daria?

To answer

1. Hello Diana!
   Your worldly name is Diana, but your Christian name is Daria. Therefore, when you pray, order notes to the temple, go to confession and take communion, you should always name only orthodox name- Darya.
   God bless you!

   To answer

   1. Thanks for the answer, it means I’m doing everything right. But I still don’t understand it, I pray under one (Christian) name, but I live under another. And where is the guarantee that the Lord listens to the prayer of God’s servant Daria and Diana at the same time. clarification or description?

      To answer

      1. Diana, the Lord hears you under any name.
         The Church even has special prayer petitions for all those whose names only the Lord knows. And the Lord also accepts such prayers.
         With the name of Daria, you need to start the Sacraments of the Church and sign yourself up for a church commemoration.
         At home, you can pray simply - from the heart. Not thinking about their names.
         The Lord will surely hear you through fervent prayer.
         Help you Lord!

         To answer

How to pray for God to hear?- the natural desire of any believer. The paradox is that GOD ALWAYS HEARS! But it often hesitates to fulfill our often selfish desire. And indeed, God does not feel sorry for anything. People say: God has a lot of everything. And it is. So it's all about ourselves.

Now we will analyze some provisions that help us to correctly build our prayer activity so that it is effective, that is, we will indicate the properties of prayer in the hope of their application by praying people, so that God really hears us in prayer.

Here are collected morning and evening prayers, the main canons - the penitent to the Lord, the prayer service to the Mother of God, the Guardian Angel and others. Here, a believer finds prayers during the day or for special occasions - in case of illness, for children, when applying for a job, for taking prosphora and holy water, for travelers, for a blessing for a new business, for business, thanksgiving prayers, etc. d.

It is very important to pay attention to the Follow-up to Holy Communion when we are preparing for confession and Communion. This is a separate topic, we will cover it in the near future. Here we say that communion is a union with the Lord Himself. And the more often we take communion, the closer the Lord becomes to us, therefore. Our prayer is “dearer” to Him, He “hears” us.

1. An important property of prayer, so that God looks upon us sinners, is mindfulness while praying. How can you pray if your mind wanders somewhere? After all, when we come to the authorities, we prepare what to say, how to say it and try to convince. Our further fate depends on the decision of the chief. We behave strictly and reverently, we do not allow superfluous words, we speak specifically.

So it is in prayer. If we want to be heard, so that God “wants” to fulfill our petition, then we need to be concentrated, extremely attentive and delve into the words of the prayer, to know well what we want to bring to the “ears of God”.

1. Heartiness of Prayer also helps us to be heard! Surely you have met the phrase among believers that the LORD ACCEPTS PRAYER FROM THE HEART, and this is true. We must feel with our heart (soul) every word of prayer, experience it.

With such prayer, sooner or later a state of compunction will occur. It comes as a gift from God and testifies that we have been heard. Tenderness is when we are so deeply inside our own prayer that nothing external interferes with us, does not distract us. We spontaneously flow tears of devotion to the Lord.

This is such a state, it is so sweet that we want its endless continuation. “It is good for us to be here,” said the future apostle Peter, when the Divine Teacher Jesus Christ was transfigured on Mount Tabor. So we must, with tenderness, cultivate in ourselves a personal Favor.

1. For prayer to be effective, for God to “hear” and want to fulfill our petition, there must be constancy in prayer. And it's natural. The Lord wants us to be saved in eternity, be happy, pious, full of strength, and do good deeds constantly. And we all receive from the hands of God, figuratively speaking.

That is, if we set certain goals in life and wish to be successful, then we must also conform to the will of God, have constancy in prayer, which God will definitely appreciate and “give good to those who ask Him” without fail. Therefore, the one who prays daily, hourly, every minute, always has an advantage over that person who only occasionally comes to prayer and then complains, they say, why God does not hear me!

We pray for you!

1. And for the effectiveness of prayer we should be grateful to the Lord for all his unceasing blessings, obvious and not obvious, felt by us and not felt. God blesses us all the time. Even if we don't notice it. He arranges everything for our good. Therefore, many holy fathers were afraid to ask God for anything, since what they asked might not be saving, harmful to the soul.

A grateful heart needs nothing. It is enough for everyone. It is sure that God will never leave, no matter how hard it is. We need to be content with what we already have. In all areas of our life. And in the moral sense, and in the material, and in the spiritual, and in the worldly - for everything we thank the Lord our God!

And a miracle happens. We all fall straight from the sky! We say, Lord, why? We are not worthy of Your mercy! But us for humility goes even more. We are again grateful and marvel at the generosity of the Lord, we do not ask for anything. And paradoxically, it pours out to us like from a cornucopia! So God always hears a grateful person.

1. Always Orthodox prayer ends with praise, for example, as in OUR FATHER: for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and forever and ever. Amen. In other prayers, the doxology is expressed in slightly different words, but is always present.

This suggests that no matter what happens in our lives, often completely worthless, we praise God for everything, for the omnipotent Providence for us sinners, for our fulfilled and unfulfilled petitions, for our very existence, for the opportunity to live and improve, for God's care for us.

1. So, if you want to be heard by God, pray correctly, attentively, heartily, constantly. Be thankful to God for everything! And praise Him, whatever happens.

• And the most important. The Power of Prayer is Conciliarity. It is one thing at home to read at least the entire Psalter of 20 chapters - a kathisma, and this will be equal to one "LORD HAVE PARTY" said by all believers during worship in the temple.

That is, frequent attendance at church services is necessary. This is the great power of prayer. The Lord Himself directs the Divine services and sends accompanying Angels to us. Therefore, in the temple we cannot but be heard.

If for a number of reasons you cannot visit the church due to illness, employment, or if the desired temple (monastery) is far away, then it is customary to order a service in absentia, that is, to submit (transmit) a note ON HEALTH and (or) ON REST to the proskomedia, Liturgy, prayer service, memorial service, magpie, semi-annual and annual commemoration.

In this case, the Church of Christ, loving us all her children, will pray for you even without your presence. Moreover, many pious Christians send their notes with a small donation to various temples of the vast world of Orthodoxy.

Use it.

Order a service in our St. Nicholas Church right now!

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with the blessing of His Grace Simon, Bishop of Murmansk and Monchegorsk

Trifonov Pechenga Monastery
"The ark"
Moscow
2004

What is prayer

In the Christian catechism, that is, in the instruction on the Christian faith, it is said about prayer as follows: “Prayer is the offering of the mind and heart to God and is the reverent word of a person to God.” Prayer is the threads of the living tissue of the body of the church, going in all directions; prayer connection pervades the entire body of the Church.

Prayer connects each member of the Church with the Heavenly Father, the members of the earthly Church among themselves, and the members of the earth with those in heaven.
The content of prayer is: praise, or glory; thanksgiving; repentance; a request for the mercy of God, for the forgiveness of sins, for the granting of blessings of the soul and body, heavenly and earthly. Prayer is about yourself and about others. Prayer for each other expresses mutual love members of the Church.

Spiritual worship is necessarily accompanied by bodily worship due to the close connection of soul and body. Prayer is expressed in various outward forms. This includes kneeling, the sign of the cross, the raising of hands, the use of various liturgical objects, and all the external actions of public Christian worship.
Prayer has extraordinary power. “Prayer not only conquers the laws of nature, is not only an invincible shield against visible and invisible enemies, but even holds back the hand of the Almighty God Himself, raised to defeat sinners,” writes the saint.

But to read the words of a prayer from memory or from a prayer book, to stand in front of an icon at home or in a church, to bow - this is not yet a prayer. “Reading prayers, standing at prayer, and prostrating only constitute prayerful standing,” writes the saint, “and prayer, in fact, comes from the heart. When this is not - and there is none. Prayer without feelings is the same as a dead miscarriage. Prayer itself, as St. Theophan the Recluse writes, “is the emergence in our heart of one after another reverent feelings for God - feelings of self-humiliation, devotion, thanksgiving, praise, forgiveness, zealous falling, contrition, submission to the will of God, and so on.”

Most of all, during prayer, we should take care that these and similar feelings fill our soul, so that when we read prayers aloud or inwardly, during bows our heart is not empty, so that it aspires to God. When we have these feelings, then our prayers, our prostrations are prayer...

Why you need to pray according to the prayer book

The Fathers of the Church were very cautious about those prayers that were composed by the believers themselves.

“Do not dare to bring to God the wordy and eloquent prayers that you have composed ... they are the work of a fallen mind and ... cannot be accepted on the spiritual altar of God,” he wrote. In praying with other people's words, our example is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. His prayer exclamations during the suffering on the cross are lines from psalms ().

Books for home prayers contain many prayers written by the holy Fathers of the Church.
These prayers were written many centuries ago by the monks and Macarius of Egypt, Roman the Melodist, saints, and other great prayer books. Filled with a prayerful spirit, they expressed what was inspired by this spirit in words and transmitted these words to us. A great prayer power moves in their prayers, and whoever clings to them with attention and zeal will surely experience a prayerful feeling. Reading prayers connects a person with their creators - psalmists and ascetics. This helps to find a spiritual mood akin to their burning heart.

What prayers are included in the prayer book

Books for home prayers, most often called, have many similarities with each other, because they contain the same prayer books. The prayer books contain prayers for the future and morning prayers, an akathist to the Sweetest Jesus, an akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos, an akathist to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, a canon of repentance to our Lord Jesus Christ, a prayer canon to the Most Holy Theotokos, sung in every sorrow of the soul and circumstances, a canon to the Guardian Angel , following before Holy Communion and prayers for Holy Communion.

The word akathist comes from the Greek akathistos gymnos - "non-sitting hymn", a hymn that is sung while standing. An akathist is a contemplation of a miracle, it is, as it were, a verbal icon of a sacred person or a blessed event, which explains its static nature. Akathist consists of 12 double songs - successively alternating ikos and kondak. A kontakion is a short Orthodox hymn that sets out the dogmatic or historical meaning of a celebrated event or person; in a kontakion, any moment of the Church's teaching about one of the mysteries of God is revealed. Each kontakion ends with the exclamation of "Alleluia". The ikos follows the kontakion, which reveals the content of the kontakion, concludes a more extensive development of the theme contained in the kontakion.

Canon is one of the forms of the Orthodox hymn. The canon consists of nine songs arranged in thanksgiving and praise to God. The song of the canon is divided into irmos (from the Greek verb "I bind", "I connect") and several troparia (a song depicting the lifestyle of a saint or the triumph of a holiday). The canon to the Guardian Angel contains a prayer service to the Guardian Angel, a prayer canon to the Most Holy Theotokos - a prayer for the aversion of internal mental and bodily diseases and, in particular, for the healing of sinful ulcers that afflict the soul, as the very content of the songs and verses of the canon shows.

What prayers should a layman's prayer rule consist of?

The lay prayer rule consists of morning and evening prayers, which are performed daily. This rhythm is necessary, because otherwise the soul easily falls out of the life of prayer, as if waking up only from time to time. In prayer, as in any big and difficult task, inspiration, mood and improvisation alone are not enough.
There are three basic prayer rules:

1) a complete prayer rule, designed for monks and spiritually experienced laity, which is printed in the Orthodox Prayer Book;

2) a short prayer rule designed for all believers; in the morning: “King of Heaven”, Trisagion, “Our Father”, “Virgin Mother of God”, “Rising from sleep”, “Have mercy on me, God”, “I believe”, “God, cleanse”, “To You, Master”, “ Holy Angele”, “Most Holy Lady”, invocation of the saints, prayer for the living and the dead; in the evening: “King of Heaven”, Trisagion, “Our Father”, “Have mercy on us, Lord”, “Eternal God”, “Good King”, “Angel of Christ”, from “Choose Governor” to “It is worthy to eat”; these prayers are contained in any prayer book;

3) a short prayer rule of the monk: three times “Our Father”, three times “Virgin Mother of God” and once “I believe” - for those days and circumstances when a person is extremely tired or very limited in time.

The duration of prayers, their number are determined by the spiritual fathers, priests, taking into account the lifestyle of each and his spiritual experience.

It is impossible to completely omit the prayer rule. Even if the prayer rule is read without due attention, the words of the prayers, penetrating into the soul, have their cleansing effect.
St. Theophan writes to one family person: “In case of emergency, one must be able to shorten the rule. Whether it is not enough in family life of accidents. When things do not allow you to make a complete prayer rule, then make it abbreviated.

And one should never rush ... The rule is not an essential part of prayer, but is only its outer side. But the main thing is - the prayer of the mind and heart to God, offered up with praise, thanksgiving and petition ... and finally with complete surrender to the Lord. When there are such movements in the heart, there is prayer there, and when there is no such movement, there is no prayer, even if you stand on the rule for whole days.

A special prayer rule is performed during the preparation for the Sacraments of confession and communion. On these days (they are called fasting and last at least three days), it is customary to more diligently fulfill their prayer rule: those who usually do not read all the morning and evening prayers, let them read everything in full, those who do not read the canons, let them read at least on these days one canon. On the eve of communion, one must be at the evening service and read at home, in addition to the usual prayers for the future, the canon of repentance, the canon of the Mother of God and the canon of the Guardian Angel. The canon for communion is also read and, whoever wishes, an akathist to Jesus the Sweetest. In the morning, morning prayers are read and all the following to Holy Communion.

During fasting, prayers are especially long, in order, as the righteous saint writes, “in order to disperse our cold, hardened hearts in a long vanity with the duration of fervent prayer. For it is strange to think, all the more so to demand, that a heart that has matured in the bustle of life could soon be imbued with the warmth of faith and love for God during prayer. No, it takes work and time. Kingdom Heavenly power is taken, and those who use force admire it (). It is not soon that the Kingdom of God comes into the heart when people run away from it so diligently. The Lord God Himself expressed His will that we should not pray briefly, when he presents as an example a widow who went to the judge for a long time and for a long time (for a long time) bothered him with her requests ().

When to make your prayer rule

In the conditions of modern life, given the workload and accelerated pace It is not easy for the laity to set aside a certain time for prayer. It is necessary to develop strict rules of prayer discipline and strongly adhere to your prayer rule.

Morning prayers are best read before starting any business. In extreme cases, they are pronounced on the way from home. Prayer teachers recommend reading the evening prayer rule in free minutes before dinner or even earlier - late in the evening it is often difficult to concentrate due to fatigue.

How to Prepare for Prayer

The main prayers that make up the morning and evening rule should be known by heart so that they penetrate deeper into the heart and so that they can be repeated in any circumstances. First of all, in your free time, it is advisable to read the prayers that are part of your rule, translate the text of the prayers for yourself from Church Slavonic into Russian in order to understand the meaning of each word and not pronounce a single word meaninglessly or without accurate understanding. This is what the Church Fathers advise. “Take the trouble,” writes the monk, “not at the hour of prayer, but at another, free time, to think over and feel the prescribed prayers. Having done this, you will not encounter any difficulty during prayer to reproduce in yourself the content of the prayer being read.

It is very important that the person approaching prayer banish resentment, irritation, and bitterness from the heart. The saint teaches: “Before prayers, it is required not to be angry with anyone, not to be angry, but to leave all offense, so that God himself will forgive sins.”

“Coming to the Benefactor, be yourself benevolent; approaching the Good, be good yourself; approaching the Righteous, be righteous yourself; approaching the Patient One, be patient yourself; approaching the philanthropic, be philanthropic; and also be everything else, approaching the Kind-hearted, the Benevolent, the Sociable in blessings, the Merciful of everyone, and if anything else is seen of the Divine, likening in all this by your own will, thereby gain boldness for prayer, ”writes the saint.

How to make your own prayer rule at home

During prayer, it is recommended to retire, light a lamp or a candle and stand in front of the icon. Depending on the nature of intra-family relations, it may be recommended to read the prayer rule together, as a whole family, or to each family member separately. Common prayer is recommended above all on solemn days, before a festive meal, and on other similar occasions. family prayer- this is a kind of church, public (the family is a kind of home church) and therefore does not replace individual prayer, but only complements it.

Before the beginning of prayer, one should make the sign of the cross and make several bows, half-length or earthly, and try to tune in to an inner conversation with God. “Stand silently until feelings subside, put yourself in the presence of God to the consciousness and feelings of Him with reverent Fear and raise a living faith in your heart that God hears and sees you,” the prayer book says at the beginning. Saying prayers out loud or in a low voice helps many people focus.

“When starting to pray,” advises the saint, “in the morning or in the evening, stand a little, or sit, or walk around, and at this time take the trouble to sober up the thought, diverting it from all earthly affairs and objects. Then think about who is the One to whom you will turn in prayer, and who you are, now having to begin this prayerful address to Him - and arouse in your soul the corresponding mood of self-abasing and reverent fear imbued with standing before God in your heart. This is the whole preparation - to stand reverently before God - small, but not insignificant. Here is the beginning of prayer, but a good beginning is half the work.
Having thus established yourself inwardly, then stand before the icon and, having made several bows, begin the usual prayer: “Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee,” “King of Heaven, Comforter, Soul of Truth,” and so on. Read slowly, delve into every word, and bring the thought of every word to the heart, accompanying it with bows. This is the whole point of reading a prayer that is pleasing and fruitful to God. Delve into every word and bring the thought of the word to the heart, otherwise - understand what you are reading, and feel what you understand. No other rules are required. These two - understand and feel - performed properly, adorn any prayer with full dignity and impart to it all fruitful action. You read: “cleanse us from all filthiness” - feel your filthiness, desire purity and with hope seek it from the Lord. You read: “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” - and in your soul forgive everyone, and in your heart, who has forgiven everyone, ask the Lord for forgiveness. You read: “Thy will be done” - and in your heart completely surrender your fate to the Lord and express an unquestioning readiness to graciously meet everything that the Lord will please to send you.
If you act like this with every verse of your prayer, then you will have the proper prayer.

In another of his admonitions, St. Theophan so briefly systematizes advice on reading the rule of prayer:

“a) never read in a hurry, but read as if in a singsong voice ... In ancient times, everything recited prayers taken from the psalms... But nowhere do I see the word "read", but everywhere "sing"...

b) delve into every word and not only reproduce the thought of what you read in your mind, but also arouse a corresponding feeling ...

c) in order to cut off the urge for hasty reading, put - not read this and that, but stand on the reading prayer for a quarter of an hour, half an hour, an hour ... how long you usually stand ... and then do not worry ... how many prayers you read - but how the time has come, if not hunting to stand further, stop reading ...

d) having put this down, however, do not look at the clock, but stand like that so as to stand endlessly: the thought will not run ahead ...

e) in order to promote the movement of prayerful feelings in your free time, reread and rethink all the prayers that are included in your rule - and re-feel them, so that when you begin to read them on the rule, you know in advance what feeling should be aroused in the heart ...

f) never read prayers without interruption, but always interrupt them with your own prayer, with bows, whether in the middle of prayers you have to do this or at the end. As soon as something falls into your heart, immediately stop reading and bow down. This last rule is the most necessary and most necessary for cultivating the spirit of prayer ... If some other feeling takes a lot, you will be with him and bow, and leave the reading ... so until the very end of the allotted time.

What to do when distracted by prayer

Praying is very difficult. Prayer is primarily a spiritual work, therefore one should not expect immediate spiritual delight from it. “Do not look for pleasures in prayer,” he writes, “they are by no means characteristic of a sinner. The sinner's desire to feel pleasure is already self-delusion... Do not look for prematurely high spiritual states and prayerful delights.

As a rule, attention to the words of the prayer can be held for several minutes, and then thoughts begin to wander, the eye glides over the words of the prayer - and our heart and mind are far away.
If someone prays to the Lord, but thinks of something else, then the Lord will not listen to such a prayer,” writes the monk.

At these moments, the Fathers of the Church advise to be especially attentive. St. Theophan the Recluse writes that we must prepare in advance for the fact that when reading prayers we are distracted, often mechanically read the words of a prayer. “When a thought runs away during prayer, bring it back. Runs back again - return again. So every time. Every time that is read while thoughts are running away and, therefore, without attention and feeling, do not forget to reread. And even if your thought runs back several times in one place, read it several times until you read it with understanding and feeling. Once you overcome this difficulty - another time, perhaps it will not be repeated, or it will not be repeated in such force.

If during the reading of the rule a prayer breaks through in one's own words, then, as St. Nicodemus says, "do not let this occasion pass fleetingly, but dwell on it."
We find the same thought in St. Theophan: “Another word will affect the soul so strongly that the soul will not want to prolong further in prayer, and although the tongue reads prayers, and the thought keeps running back to the place that had such an effect on her. In this case, stop, do not read further, but stay with attention and feeling in that place, feed your soul with them, or with those thoughts that it will produce. And do not rush to tear yourself away from this state, so if time does not endure, it is better to leave an unfinished rule, and do not ruin this state. It will overshadow you, maybe all day, like a guardian angel! This kind of beneficial influence on the soul during prayer means that the spirit of prayer begins to take root and that, consequently, the preservation of this state is the most reliable remedy to the upbringing and strengthening of the prayerful spirit in us.

How to end your prayer rule

It is good to end the prayer with thanksgiving to God for the gift of fellowship and contrition for one's inattention.

“When you finish your prayers, do not immediately go on to your own activities, but also, at least a little, stop and think about what you have done and what it obliges you to do, trying, if something is given to feel during prayer, to keep it after prayers,” writes St. Theophan the Recluse. “Do not immediately rush into everyday affairs,” St. Nicodemus teaches, “and never think that, having completed your prayer rule, you have finished everything in relation to God.”

Getting down to business, you must first think about what you have to say, do, see during the day, and ask God for blessings and strength to follow His will.

How to learn to spend the day in prayer

Having finished the morning prayers, we should not think that everything has been fulfilled in relation to God, and only in the evening, during the evening rule, should we return to prayer again.
Good feelings that arose during morning prayers will be drowned out in the bustle and busyness of the day. Because of this, there is no desire to stand for the evening prayer.

We must try to make the soul turn to God not only when we stand in prayer, but throughout the whole day.

Here is how St. Theophan the Recluse advises to learn this:

“First, it is necessary during the day to cry out to God more often from the heart in short words, judging by the need of the soul and current affairs. You start something, for example, say: “Bless, Lord!”. When you finish the job, say: “Glory to you, Lord!”, and not only with your tongue, but also with the feeling of your heart. What passion rises, say: "Save, Lord, I'm dying!" Finds the darkness of confusing thoughts, cry out: "Bring my soul out of prison!". Wrong deeds are coming and sin attracts to them, pray: “Guide me, Lord, on the path” or “Do not give my feet into confusion.” Sins suppress and lead to despair, cry out with a publican's voice: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." So, anyway. Or just say often: “Lord, have mercy; Mother of God, have mercy on me. Angel of God, my holy guardian, protect me, ”or call out with some other word. Just make these appeals as often as possible, trying in every possible way so that they come from the heart, as if squeezed out of it. When you do this, we will often make intelligent ascents to God from the heart, frequent appeals to God, frequent prayer, and this increase will impart the habit of intelligent conversation with God.

But in order for the soul to begin to cry out like this, it is necessary in advance to force it to turn everything to the glory of God, all its deeds, large and small. And this is the second way to teach the soul to turn to God more often during the day. For if we make it our law to fulfill this apostolic commandment, so that we do everything for the glory of God, whether you eat or drink, or do anything else, you do everything for the glory of God (), then we will certainly remember God with every deed, and remember not just but with apprehension, so as not to do something wrong in any case and not offend God in any way. This will make you turn to God with fear and prayerfully ask for help and admonition. Just as we do something almost incessantly, we will almost incessantly turn to God in prayer, and, consequently, we will almost continuously go through the science of prayer in the soul to God of exaltation.

But in order for the soul to fulfill this, that is, doing everything for the glory of God, as it should, it must be set up for this from early morning - from the very beginning of the day, before a person goes out to his work and to his work until evening. This mood is produced by the thought of God. And this is the third way of training the soul to turn often to God. God-thinking is a reverent reflection on the Divine properties and actions and on what the knowledge of them and their attitude towards us obliges us, this reflection on the goodness of God, justice, wisdom, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, about creation and providence, about the organization of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, about the goodness and word of God, about the holy sacraments, about the Kingdom of Heaven.
Which of these subjects you do not begin to reflect on, this reflection will certainly fill the soul with a reverent feeling for God. Begin to meditate, for example, on the goodness of God - you will see that you are surrounded by the graces of God both bodily and spiritually, and unless you are a stone, so as not to fall before God in an outpouring of humiliated feelings of thanksgiving. Begin to meditate on the omnipresence of God - you will understand that you are everywhere before God and God is before you, and you cannot help but be filled with reverent fear. Begin to meditate on the omniscience of God - you will know that nothing in you is hidden from the eye of God, and you will certainly resolve to be strictly attentive to the movements of your heart and mind, so as not to somehow offend the all-seeing God. Start to reason about the truth of God, and you will be sure that not a single bad deed will go unpunished, and you will certainly set out to cleanse all your sins with contrition and repentance of your heart before God. So, no matter what property and action of God you begin to discuss, any such reflection will fill the soul with reverent feelings and dispositions for God. It directs the whole being of man directly to God, and is therefore the most direct means of accustoming the soul to ascend to God.

The most decent, convenient time for this is the morning, when the soul is not yet burdened with many impressions and business concerns, and precisely after morning prayer. When you finish your prayer, sit down and, with a thought sanctified in prayer, begin to meditate today on one thing, tomorrow on another of God's property and action, and make an arrangement in your soul accordingly. “Go,” said the saint, “go, holy contemplation, and let us immerse ourselves in contemplation of the great deeds of God,” and he went through the thought or the deeds of creation and providence, or the miracles of the Lord Savior, or His sufferings, or something else, thereby touched his heart and began to pour out his soul in prayer. So anyone can do it. There is little work, only desire and determination are needed; and a lot of fruit.

So here are three ways, in addition to the rule of prayer, to teach the soul to prayerfully ascend to God, namely: dedicate some time in the morning to contemplation, turn every deed to the glory of God, and often turn to God with short invocations.

When contemplation of God is well done in the morning, it will leave a deep mood for contemplation of God. Thinking about God will force the soul to perform every action, both internal and external, carefully and turn it to the glory of God. And both will put the soul in such a position that prayerful appeals to God will often be torn out of it.
These three are contemplation of God, creation of everything for the glory of God, and frequent invocations are the most effective instruments of intelligent and heartfelt prayer. Each of them elevates the soul to God. Whoever sets out to practice them will soon acquire to believe in his heart the habit of ascending to God. This work is like climbing a mountain. The higher someone climbs the mountain, the freer and easier he breathes. So here too, the more one masters the exercises shown, the higher the soul will be raised, and the higher the soul will rise, the more freely prayer will act in it. Our soul by nature is an inhabitant of the heavenly world of the Divine. There she should have been non-originating both in thought and heart; but the burden of earthly thoughts and passions attracts and burdens her dale. The methods shown are tearing it off the ground little by little, and then it will be completely torn off. When they are completely torn off, then the soul will enter its own region and will sweetly dwell on the mountain - here heartily and mentally, after that, with its very being, it will be able to abide before the face of God in the faces of angels and saints. What may the Lord vouchsafe to all of you with His grace. Amen".

How to force yourself to pray

Sometimes prayer does not come to mind at all. In this case, St. Theophan advises to do this:
“If this is a home prayer, then you can postpone it a little, for a few minutes ... If it doesn’t work after that either ... force yourself to fulfill the prayer rule forcibly, straining, and understand what is being said, and feel ... like when a child does not want to bend down, they take him by the forelock and they bend over... Otherwise, this is what can happen... now there is reluctance - tomorrow there is reluctance, and then the prayer is completely over. Beware of this ... and force yourself to pray willingly. The labor of self-compulsion overcomes everything.”

What you need for successful prayer

“Desiring and seeking success in the work of prayer, adapt everything else to this, so that you do not destroy with one hand what the other builds up.

1. Keep your body strictly both in food, and in sleep, and in rest: do not give it anything just because it wants it, as the apostle commands: Do not turn cares for the flesh into lusts (). Give no rest to the flesh.

2. Reduce your external relations to the most inevitable. This is at the time of teaching yourself to pray. Afterward, prayer, acting in you, will indicate what can be added without damage to it. Especially observe the feelings, and among them the most - the eyes, hearing, tie the tongue. Without observing this, you will not make a step forward in the matter of prayer. Just as a candle cannot burn in the wind and rain, so prayer cannot be kindled by a surge of impressions from outside.

3. Use all your free time after prayer for reading and meditation. For reading, choose mainly those books that deal with prayer and in general about the inner spiritual life. Meditate exclusively on God and Divine things, on the Incarnate Economy of our salvation, and in it especially on the suffering and death of the Lord Savior. By doing this, you will be immersed in the sea of ​​Divine light. Add to this going to church as soon as you can. One presence in the temple will overshadow you with a prayer cloud. What will you get if you stand in a truly prayerful mood throughout the entire service!

4. Know that you cannot succeed in prayer without succeeding in the Christian life in general. It is necessary that not a single sin lie on the soul that is not cleansed by repentance; and if during the time of prayer you do something that confuses your conscience, hasten to cleanse yourself with repentance, so that you can boldly look to the Lord. Always keep humble contrition in your heart. Do not miss a single upcoming opportunity to do some good or to show any good disposition, especially humility, obedience and renunciation of one's own will. But it goes without saying that zeal for salvation must burn unquenchably and, filling the whole soul, in everything, from small to great, must be the main driving force, with the fear of God and unshakable hope.

5. Being in such a mood, bother yourself in prayerful work, praying: either with ready-made prayers, or with your own, or with short invocations to the Lord, or with the Jesus Prayer, but without missing anything that can contribute to this work, and you will receive what you are looking for. Let me remind you what Saint Macarius of Egypt says: “God will see your prayer work and that you sincerely wish success in prayer - and will give you prayer. For know that although prayer done and achieved by one's own efforts is pleasing to God, the real prayer is that which dwells in the heart and becomes unrelenting. It is a gift of God, a work of God's grace. Therefore, when praying about everything, do not forget to pray about prayer too ”(rev.).

How to Learn to Cry to God in Prayer

Holy righteous John of Kronstadt writes:

“In prayer, the main thing that you need to take care of first of all is a living, clairvoyant faith in the Lord: imagine Him alive before you and in yourself, and then, if you wish, ask for Christ Jesus in the Holy Spirit, and be you. Ask simply, without hesitation, and then your God will be everything for you, performing great and wonderful deeds in an instant, just as the sign of the cross performs great powers. Ask not for yourself alone, but for all the faithful, for the whole body of the Church, spiritual and material blessings, not separating yourself from other believers, but being in spiritual union with them, as a member of the one great body of the Church of Christ, and loving all, as your children in Christ, the Heavenly Father will fill you with great peace and boldness.
If you want to pray for yourself some good from God, then before praying, prepare yourself for undoubted, strong faith and accept in advance the means against doubt and unbelief. It’s bad, if during the prayer itself your heart is exhausted in faith and does not stand in it, then don’t think that you will receive what you asked God for in hesitation, because you offended God, and God does not give His gifts to a scoffer! Whatever you ask in prayer with faith, you will receive (), and, therefore, if you ask unbelievingly or with doubt, you will not accept. If you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done with the fig tree, but if you say to this mountain: Get up and throw yourself into the sea, it will be (). So, if you hesitate and do not believe, then you will not do it. Let (everyone) ask in faith, not at all doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, tossed and tossed by the wind. Let not such a person think of receiving anything from the Lord. A man with double thoughts is not firm in all his ways, says the Apostle James ().

The heart that doubts that God can grant what is asked for is punished for doubt: it is painfully languishing and embarrassed by doubt. Do not anger the all-powerful God even with a shadow of doubt, especially you, who have experienced God's omnipotence on yourself many many times. Doubt is a blasphemy against God, a daring lie of the heart or a spirit of lies nestling in the heart against the Spirit of truth. Fear him like a poisonous snake, or not, what I say, neglect him, do not pay the slightest attention to him. Remember that God, at the time of your petition, expects an affirmative answer to the question that He internally proposes to you: do you believe, how can I do this?! Yes, you must answer from the depths of your heart: I believe, Lord! (Compare:). And then it will be according to your faith. May the following reasoning help your doubt or unbelief: I ask God:

1) an existing, and not only imaginary, not a dreamy, not a fantastic good, but everything that exists from God received being, because Everything began to be through Him, and without Him nothing began to be (), and, therefore, nothing happens without Him, what happens, and everything either received existence from Him, or according to His will or permission, it happens and is done through the mediation of His powers and abilities given to creatures by Him, and in everything that exists and happens, the Lord is the sovereign Sovereign. In addition, He calls not existing, as if existing (); This means that if I had asked for things that were not, He could have given me by creating them;

2) I ask for the possible, but for God even our impossible is possible; it means that there is no obstacle from this side either, because God can do for me even what is impossible according to my concepts. Our misfortune is that our short-sighted reason interferes with our faith, this spider that catches the truth with the nets of its judgments, conclusions, analogies. Faith suddenly embraces, sees, and reason in a roundabout way reaches the truth; faith is a means of communicating spirit with spirit, and reason - spiritual-sensory with spiritual-sensory and simply material; that one is spirit, and that one is flesh.”

I, you will say, asked many times and did not receive. Undoubtedly, this is because you asked badly - either with unbelief, or with pride, or not useful to you; if you asked often and useful, then not with perseverance ... But if you ask not with effort and great perseverance, then you do not receive. First you need to wish, and having wished, ask truly with faith and patience useful to everyone, and so that your conscience does not condemn you in anything as asking negligently or lightly - and then you will receive if God wants it. After all, He knows better than you what is useful to you, and, perhaps, as a result of this, He postpones the fulfillment of the request, wisely forcing you to be diligent to Him, so that you know what the gift of God means, and keep what is given with fear. After all, everything that is acquired with great effort, they try to keep, so that, having lost what they have received, not to destroy great efforts and, having rejected the grace of the Lord, not to be unworthy of Eternal Life ...

What to ask God in your prayers

“We are forbidden carnal verbosity and ornateness in prayer,” writes St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, “petitions for earthly blessings and advantages are forbidden, petitions with which only the prayers of pagans and carnal people like pagans are filled.”

What should a Christian ask God for in his prayers?

“If we are commanded to refrain from worldly blessings, even when they are, then how miserable and unhappy we turn out to be if we ask God for what He commanded to reject,” writes the saint. - God will hear us if:

First, we are worthy to receive what we ask;
secondly, if we pray according to the commandments of God;
thirdly, if we pray unceasingly;
fourthly, if we do not ask for anything worldly;
fifthly, if we ask for something useful;
sixthly, if we do what is due on our part, and being mortal by nature, we ascend to Immortal Life through communion with God.

“In prayer, ask only for truth and the Kingdom, that is, virtue and knowledge, and everything else will be added to you () ...
Pray
firstly, about purification from passions;
secondly, about deliverance from ignorance and, thirdly, about salvation from every temptation and abandonment ”(rev.).

“The objects of our prayer must be spiritual and eternal, and not temporal and material. The main and initial prayer should consist of petitions for the forgiveness of sins ... Do not be reckless in petitions so as not to anger God with your cowardice: asking the King of kings for something insignificant - humiliates Him ... Ask for what you consider yourself necessary and useful, but fulfillment and leave the failure of your petition to the will of God…” writes St. Ignatius Brianchaninov.

Intending to ask (something from the Lord), before resorting to the Giver, consider your petition, whether it is pure, carefully consider the reason that prompts the petition. If the motive by which we ask entails harm, then (Lord) ... may he block the sources of our petitions ... If you ask God for something of your own, then ask not so that you will certainly receive from Him, but leaving it to Him and His will . For example, bad thoughts often oppress you, and you grieve about it, and want to beg God to free you from warfare. But often it works to your advantage. For this often happens to you, so that you do not become arrogant, but be humbly wise... Also, if any sorrow or distress has befallen you, do not ask that you be sure to get rid of them, because this, my brother, is often useful; I tell you, it often happens that during prayer you neglect your salvation, as was the case with the Israelites ... And also, if you ask for something, do not ask in order to receive it without fail. For I say: you, as a man, often consider useful for yourself what is useless. But if you leave your will and decide to walk according to God's will, you will be safe. He, foreseeing everything before the fulfillment, in His condescension shepherds us, but we do not know whether what we ask is useful to us. Many, having achieved what they desired, subsequently repented, and often fell into great troubles; without carefully examining whether this is the will of God, but thinking that this is good for them, and under some pretexts that have the appearance of truth, deceived by the devil, they were exposed to extreme dangers. Many such deeds are accompanied by repentance, because we followed our own desire in them. Listen to what the apostle says: we do not know what to pray for, as we should (). For: everything is permissible for me, but not everything is useful; everything is permissible for me, but not everything edifies (). So, what is useful and instructive for each of us, God Himself knows, therefore leave it to Him. I say this not to prevent you from turning your petitions to God; on the contrary, I implore you to ask Him for everything, from the smallest to the greatest. And this is what I tell you: when you pray, you open before Him what is in your heart, say to Him: however, not My will, but Yours be done (); if it is useful, as you yourself know, so do it. For thus it is written: Commit your way to the Lord, and trust in Him, and He will do (). Look to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Builder, who prays and says: My Father! if possible, let this cup pass from me; however, not as I want, but as You (). Therefore, if you ask God for something, stand firm in your petition, opening up before Him and saying: “If it is, Master, Your will that this be done, then do it and make it successful. And if it is not Your will, do not let it happen, my God! Do not betray me to my own desire, for you know my foolishness ... but as you yourself know, so save me according to your condescension! If you pray because of grief and thoughts, then say: Lord! do not rebuke me in your wrath, and do not punish me in your anger. Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am weak (). See what the prophet says: To you, O Lord, I cry: my stronghold! do not be silent to me, so that in your silence I will not become like those descending into the grave (); but give glory to your name, unrepentant, do not remember my sins and hear me. And, if possible, let sorrow pass me by, however, not my will, but Yours be done, only strengthen and save my soul, and I will be able to endure it, but I will find grace before You both in this century and in the future. And commit your sorrow to the Lord, and He will do what is good for you. For know that He, as the Good One, wants what is necessary for our salvation. Therefore, this good Shepherd laid down His life...

“Do not provoke indignation at yourself by prayer, but ask for what is worthy of God. And when asking a worthy one, do not back down until you receive it ... In prayer, one should ask not for the fulfillment of one’s own will, but to provide everything to God, who builds a good house, ”writes the saint.

“If your deeds are not pleasing to God, then do not ask Him for great gifts, so as not to fall into the position of a person who tempts God. Your prayer should be in accordance with your life... The desire of each person is shown by his activity. To what his diligence is directed, he must also strive in prayer. He who desires great things should not practice small things. Do not ask God for what He Himself gives us without our asking, according to His providence, which He gives not only to His own and beloved ones, but also to those who are strangers to the knowledge of Him ”(rev.).

Why Our Prayers Go Unanswered

If prayer is so powerful, why doesn't everyone get what they ask for? To this, the holy apostle James gives the following answer: Ask, and you do not receive, because you ask not for good (). Whoever wants to receive must ask well. If those who ask do not always receive, then it is not prayer that is to blame for this, but those who pray well are not to blame. Just as one who does not know how to manage a good ship does not sail to the intended haven, but repeatedly crashes against stones, and it is not the ship that is to blame, but its poor management, so prayer, when the one who prays does not receive what he asks for, is not to blame for this, but the one who don't pray well.
Only those who do not receive what they ask are either evil themselves and do not want to turn away from evil in order to do good, or they ask God for an evil thing, or, finally, although they ask for a good thing, they do not ask well, not as they should. . Prayer is strong, but not any, but perfect, the prayer of those who pray well.

What exactly is prayer? Talking about this requires more than one day, and therefore I will briefly recall at least something.

The prayer of one who obeys the Lord is heard and pleasing to God. Whoever obeys the words of the Lord, as the Lord Himself told us about it: Not everyone who says to Me: “Lord! Lord! ”, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but whoever does the will of My Father in Heaven (), who walks in the law of the Lord () and does His will, the Lord will fulfill that desire and hear the prayer of those who obey Him. A humble prayer, not a Pharisaic one, rises high, to the Third Heaven, to the very Throne of the Most High, the prayer of the humble will pass through the clouds. Such, for example, was the prayer of a humble publican: God! be merciful to me a sinner! (), and Manasseh, king of Jerusalem. The wings of prayer, on which she flies up to the Most High, sitting on six-winged Seraphim, are all virtues, especially humility, fasting and almsgiving, as the Archangel Raphael, who flew down from Heaven, said about this to Tobias: A good deed is prayer with fasting and almsgiving and justice ... It is better to do alms than to collect gold (). As in any virtue, so especially in prayer, diligence and diligence are necessary: ​​The intensified prayer of the righteous can do much (). “It was not in vain that our Savior said: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you (),” writes St. Demetrius of Rostov (103, 361-362).

“The Lord never withholds gifts. If he refuses sometimes for a time, he refuses so that the gift becomes more precious for those who receive it and so that the recipient is more diligent in prayer ... The mouth can ask for everything, but God fulfills only that which is useful ... The Lord is a wise Distributor. He cares about the benefit of the one who asks, and if he sees that what is asked is harmful or, at least, useless to him, he does not fulfill the request and refuses the imaginary good deed. He listens to every prayer, and the one whose prayer is not fulfilled receives from the Lord the same saving gift as the one whose prayer is fulfilled ... In every possible way, God shows that He is a merciful Giver, He gives us His love and shows us mercy Own. And therefore, he does not answer a single wrong prayer, the fulfillment of which would bring death and destruction to us. However, even in this case, refusing to ask does not leave us without a very useful gift; By the very same way that He removes from us what is harmful, He opens for us the door of His bounties. In this Giver, the foolishness of the one who asks finds no place for itself: to the foolish one, who, out of his simplicity, contrary to reason, asks for what is harmful to himself, God gives wisely. He refuses gifts to those who do not fulfill His commands. Any other course of action would be foolishness for the omniscience of the Giver. Therefore, be sure that any petition that is not fulfilled is undoubtedly harmful, and that petition that is heard is beneficial. The giver is righteous and good and will not leave your petitions unfulfilled, because in His goodness there is no malice and in His truth there is no envy. If He delays in fulfilling it, it is not because He repents of the promise, on the contrary. He wants to see your patience ”(Reverend).

How to pray for other people

Prayer for other people is an integral part of prayer. Standing before God does not alienate a person from his neighbors, but binds him to them with even closer ties.

“Praying for the living and the dead and calling them by their names,” writes the holy righteous John of Kronstadt, “it is necessary to pronounce these names with all my heart, with love, as if carrying in my soul those faces whose names you remember, just like a milking machine wears and warms its children (), - remembering that they are our members and uds (members. - Ed.) of the Body of Christ (cf .:). - It is not good before the face of God only to sort out their names with the tongue, without the participation and love of the heart. We must think that God looks at the heart - that the persons for whom we pray also demand from us, in the duty of Christian love, brotherly sympathy and love. There is a great difference between an insensitive list of names and between their heartfelt remembrance: one is separated from the other, like heaven is from earth. But the name of the Lord Himself, His Most Pure Mother, holy angels and holy men of God, for the most part, must always be invoked from a pure heart, with faith and fiery love; in general, the words of a prayer do not need to be sorted out only with the tongue, as if turning sheets of paper with a finger in a book, or as if counting a coin; it is necessary that the words come out like the key of living water from its spring - so that they be the sincere voice of the heart, not be someone else's borrowed clothes, someone else's hands.

How to pray for offenders and enemies

We should not be limited only to prayer for those close and dear to us. Praying for those who have caused us grief brings peace to the soul, affects these people and makes our prayer sacrificial.

“When you see shortcomings and passions in your neighbor,” writes the holy righteous John of Kronstadt, “pray for him; pray for everyone, even for your enemy. If you see a proud and obstinate brother, proudly speaking with you or with others, pray for him so that God will enlighten his mind and warm his heart with the fire of His grace, say: Lord, teach Your servant, who has fallen into the devil's pride, meekness and humility, and drive away (drive away. - Ed.) from his heart the darkness and the burden of satanic pride! If you see an evil one, pray: Lord, do good to Thy servant, this by Thy grace!

If you are money-loving and greedy, say: Our treasure is incorruptible and wealth is inexhaustible! grant this servant of yours, created in your image and likeness, to know the flattery of wealth, and like all earthly things - vanity, shade and sleep. Like grass is the days of every person, or like a spider, and like You are the only wealth, our peace and joy!

When you see an envious one, pray: Lord, enlighten the mind and heart of this Thy servant to the knowledge of Thy great, innumerable and inexhaustible gifts, they are also welcome from Thy innumerable bounties, in the blindness of your passion, forget You and Thy rich gifts, and the poverty of your life He is rich in Thy blessings, and for this reason he gazes charmingly at the good of Thy servants, with them, O unspoken Blessing, have mercy on everyone, every time against his strength and according to the intention of Thy will. Take away, all-good Lord, the veil of the devil from the eyes of the heart of Thy servant and grant him heartfelt contrition and tears of repentance and thanksgiving, may the enemy not rejoice over him, caught alive from him in his own will, and may not tear him away from Thy hand.

When you see a drunk, say with your heart: Lord, look graciously on Your servant, deceived by the flattery of the womb and carnal joy, grant him to know the sweetness of abstinence and fasting and the fruits of the spirit flowing from him.

When you see someone passionate for brashns and placing his bliss in them, say: Lord, our sweetest Brasno, who never perishes, but abides in the eternal belly! Cleanse this Thy servant from the filth of gluttony, who has created all flesh and is alien to Thy Spirit, and grant him to know the sweetness of Thy life-giving spiritual brush, which is Thy Flesh and Blood and Thy holy, living and active word.

One way or another, pray for all those who sin and do not dare to despise anyone for his sin or take revenge on him, for this would only increase the sores of sinners - correct with advice, threats and punishments that would serve as a means to stop or keep evil within the boundaries of moderation.